Devotion for Week of June 30 2014 - JOHN Q. ADAMS COMPARES OUR NATION’S BIRTH TO THAT OF CHRIST

JOHN Q. ADAMS COMPARES OUR NATION’S BIRTH TO THAT OF CHRIST
 

Deuteronomy 4:3-8, Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you. 4 But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day. 5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. 6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. 7 For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for? 8 And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?”
 
Isaiah 9:6, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
 
As we approach the celebration of our nation’s 238th birthday, I am reminded of the words of John Quincy Adams.  On July 4, 1837, he spoke these words:
     “Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Saviour of the world, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day? … Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Saviour?  That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation?  Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer’s mission upon earth.  That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity, and gave to the world the first irrevocable pledge of the fulfillment of the prophecies announced directly from Heaven at the birth of the Saviour and predicted by the greatest of the Hebrew prophets six hundred years before?”
 
Adams was exactly right: America’s birth is directly linked to the birth of our Saviour.  In fact, the United States of America is the only nation established by Christian people, founded upon Biblical principles, and dedicated to the purpose of religious liberty.  This truth is easily observed within America’s earliest history.
 
America’s forebears first established a written covenant with God as early as November 11, 1620, when they penned The Mayflower Compact.  It states in part:
     “In the name of God, Amen. … Having undertaken, for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and Honour of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.”
 
The sentiments and statements of America’s founders make it clear that this nation has enjoyed a love and appreciation for the rights and freedoms recognized in Natural Law that is unique in the annals of human history.  No other people have such a heritage.
 
One thing America’s founders could not envision was–after they had paid so terrible a price to purchase our liberties–that the time would come when their posterity would be denied the basic freedoms to publicly express their reverence for God.  Never could they have imagined that the day would come when citizens of the sovereign states (each with a State constitution protecting religious liberty) would be denied their right to pray in school, or place Nativity scenes on public property, or hang copies of the Ten Commandments on courthouse walls.
 
Neither would they have ever thought a man would be elected to the highest office in the land – the presidency – and he would make and break his own laws and he would put himself above the Constitution of the United States.  Our Founders gave us the Constitutionally guaranteed separation of powers to protect us from just such illegal acts and yet our Congress is so inept they allow it to happen.
 
I am also confident that America’s founders would be completely repulsed by the way the United States has jumped headlong into corporatism, socialism, and globalism.  At the national level, Democrats and Republicans alike have created a central government so large that it would be unrecognizable to any Founding Father (even Alexander Hamilton or John Adams).  In addition, both Big Business and Big Religion have sold our great country down the old proverbial river.  Truly, our Founding Fathers must be rolling over in their graves.
 
Therefore, at this 4th of July celebration, let us remember well the founding principles of these United States of America.  Furthermore, let us renew with vigor the fight for freedom before our liberties and our heritage are gone altogether.

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